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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29630280">The Immortal Question</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdauga/pseuds/Verdauga'>Verdauga</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fun Thought Process, Here's an Answer, Kinda from a Dovahkiin who got Too Strong, Oneshot, What is Immortality, might make more, philosophical</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:01:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,283</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29630280</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdauga/pseuds/Verdauga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Many have wondered what it is like to be Immortal. Here are some thoughts one such being has shared.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Immortal Question</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It has long been a thought, a curiosity, a question: </span>
  <em>
    <span>What is like to be immortal?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Throughout existence, across time, civilizations, realities, and even the multiverse, such a thing has been pondered, but nearly never is it ever answered. For to truly obtain an answer, or at least one relevant, one must consider several things, among them being </span>
  <em>
    <span>what type of immortal?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There are many forms of immortality, in truth, and just as there exists this variety, so too do they hold among them many variances. In origin, effect, consequences, method, achieval, and maintenance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>From those who keep young with constant use of an Elixir of Life produced from some form of Philosopher Stone, to those who prey on the life forces of others, from simple touches, to deals, to intimacy, or simply taking the soul of another to fuel the longevity of their own. Those who sacrifice their life, their very </span>
  <em>
    <span>flesh</span>
  </em>
  <span> in pursuit of eternity, they who seek lichdom and become the eternally unliving, the dread embodiment of many living things' fears. Those beings who do not die, not truly, whether a result of some sort of regenerative ability, either of a healing factor or the creation of a totally new body, or as ones whom, in death, merely move to another realm, the next new world in their endless list of ventures stretching both far behind them, and far beyond. There are even ones who are immortal through means not directly their own, and sometimes only indirectly due to their actions, and others still not of their fault at all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There are some who simply do not die. They are incapable of it, whether physically, such as having immense regenerative abilities that simply outstrip any decaying or damaging force, or those who are spiritually unable, for whatever myriad of reasons, perhaps being an elemental or spirit of some force or place, something comprised of energy that even if shaken and dispersed, still reforms no matter how many times it is split.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There are those who are bound, whether in life or death, as flesh or spirit, to some place, thing, or goal, such as perhaps as a guiding spirit in an old trinket that once held religious connotations. Maybe as a revenant, an angry spirit bent on vengeance against a wrong and which shall not rest until righted. Maybe a spirit imprisoned in servitude within a corpse risen through Necromancy. Those who have become the eternal guardians of a place or people, mayhaps holy in origin, or due to their devotion. Then there are those who have been cursed in some way for whatever reason, such as vampires, or those who have angered some higher being whose delivered punishment was an eternal sufferance. Maybe one has made a deal with some other being, god, genie, devil, or who knows what else, and either through a single dealing or a continual contract have extended their life at some cost. Perhaps one simply attained enough power as to actually seemingly rise above the grasp of Time?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>These are but some of many, </span>
  <em>
    <span>many</span>
  </em>
  <span> forms of immortality, but as you may have noticed, most of these are ways that mortals have grasped and clawed at Eternity, desperate in their attempts to evade the Void.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then there are those beings which are born, or come into being, as something utterly </span>
  <em>
    <span>untouchable by Time.</span>
  </em>
  <span> These are the True Immortals, the Gods and Divines, the Eldritch and Titan, the Primal and Primordial, the Elder and Ancient. The beings that have existed since or even before Time itself, and so exist outside of it, unbound and beyond its rules and laws, and generally uncomprehending of its ways. Some are beings to which Death does not apply, them being an embodied Aspect, something which is just a part of reality and thus immutable as long as reality remains. They generally cannot </span>
  <em>
    <span>truly</span>
  </em>
  <span> die, though sometimes they can be usurped by something similar enough. Some beings, while incapable of being </span>
  <em>
    <span>killed</span>
  </em>
  <span> per se, are still very much vulnerable in other ways.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For example, Gods created and brought to power by the worship of mortals, while strong, suffer a terrible weakness directly from their very source of strength: </span>
  <em>
    <span>worship</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Gods such as those are brought into being by worship, sustained by worship, and without it... they Fade. Either weakening until they become but mere shells, echoes of their former greatness, or they Fade entirely, disappearing from existence as their only real tethers to it snap one by one, as mortals lose Faith and cease their worship, no longer believing, or are simply snuffed out. And with them, so too do their Gods Fade more and more until they are Forgotten and gone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But, there is one thing, one particular issue that most do not see, do not consider, do not even realize until its truth has snuck upon them in the midst their newfound Eternity...</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And that one thing. Is the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mind</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It is simple truth that mortal minds, beings whose existence was once bound to Death after their time on the mortal coil had slipped by them, are not meant to, nor capable of, withstanding </span>
  <em>
    <span>Eternity</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Their mind was made to last a </span>
  <em>
    <span>finite</span>
  </em>
  <span> period, and to go beyond... rarely ends well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>While Time is not the only foe new immortals shall face, it is certainly one of the greatest, for even if you have physically safeguarded your mind, are you so sure it is mentally ready for the toll you'll force upon it?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You will be forced to watch as everything you've ever known, all you've ever loved, the world you grew up in, you lived in, changes, altering overtime until it is unrecognizable, crumbling until it all fades away, leaving naught but dust and memory.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You, the unchanging, ever the same, a relic of the long gone past, the one who made a choice so long ago, a choice you shall likely live to regret forever, because after all, you've got the time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Time is all you have </span>
  <em>
    <span>left</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Your punishment, for scuttling beyond its reach, where it will leave you forever adrift, <em>drowning</em> in Eternity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>You may believe your Sanctuary rests in Eternity, but such hope is a false notion, for in the end it is only torment that awaits. You will not survive. Because while you may have started down this road, the being that shall step off that distant path will not be you.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Time will wear you down, grind you to dust and scatter you in the winds. You will grow detached, uncaring. Your thoughts and memories will fade, you will lose sight of who you are, twisting and changing until not one bit of you resembles the past, and on that day you will realize what you have lost, and you will weep. Because you are not yourself, not anymore, for Eternity has warped you.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You have lost yourself, and all that you were. And you can </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> reclaim it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Life is a Journey, and Death the Destination. It has been said that the journey is greater than the destination, but what of when there is no destination, no end? All your efforts had meaning because there was a goal, an ending, a purpose. Can you say the same when there is no end? Have you doomed yourself to an unending, unfulfilling journey in your hubris?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Death was a gift, a release. A gift that you've refused. And though the offer may still stand, it will never be the same. Because the Being you were has already died.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But I digress.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You wanted to know what an Immortal's thoughts on Immortality were? Well...</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>To be Immortal...</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Is to be Alone</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
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